A parliamentary committee yesterday gave one more month to the Department of Land Record and Survey to come up with an accurate elaborate list of individuals and organisations who encroached upon 43 canals in the capital.

The government's swine flu management system seems to have failed to keep pace with the increasing number of patients as most of the 15 hospitals brought under the system are yet to set up separate corners at their outdoor departments.

The metropolitan public prosecutor (MPP) of Dhaka yesterday recommended withdrawal of one of the 11 cases filed against former BNP senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman, considering it 'politically motivated' and meant for 'harassment'.

Only one out of the 14 decisions the government made on August 20, talking to 12 government agencies to curb traffic jams, was implemented and even that proved ineffective, resulting in the usual unrelenting citywide gridlocks.

A parliamentary committee yesterday recommended the government to link both Benapole-Dhaka-Tamabil and Banglabandha-Dhaka-Tamabil routes to connect Bangladesh with Asian Highway, an international network of 141,000 km of standard highways crisscrossing Asian countries with links to Europe.

A desperate mother of a seven-year-old ailing boy failed to receive any assistance after six agonising hours spent rushing to four different hospitals, which the government said to be providing treatment for swine flu or flu-like illness.

At least 30 people including 10 policemen were injured yesterday as activists of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports clashed with police at Bijoy Nagar on their way to lay siege to Petrobangla office at Karwan Bazar in the capital.

Editorial

MEMBERS of the minority community have reasons to be concerned over some recent incidents in which quite a few of their families came under attack. In the latest attempt at grabbing land, some hoodlums attacked three Hindu families in Puthia under Rajshahi district and at least 12 people had to be hospitalised with injuries. It happened only a few weeks after land grabbers, allegedly masquerading as developers, tried to evict a Hindu family from their home in Dhaka city.

LOOTING of the reserve forests in the Chittagong Hill Tracts has reached alarming proportions. The way the illegal loggers in collusion with some dishonest forest officials are depleting the forest resources of Rangamati has again become glaringly evident from a recent report in this paper. But one would again notice the too familiar practice of evading responsibility by the officials concerned, who are pointing fingers at others for the mischief.

THE usual response to the question that we have gotten used to hearing is why, of course, the assassination was carried out by a group of misguided army officers. But the answer is not quite as simple. And recently released documents of the US State department indicate the involvement of more than only the so-called disgruntled officers.

THE most commonly shared development objectives are growth and equity. Growth is usually measured in terms of either aggregate GDP or per capita income. Equity has been traditionally measured in terms of income distribution of which Gini index is a summary indicator (the index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100; the higher the number, the greater the inequality). Over the last couple of decades, poverty alleviation has been added as an independent dimension to the concept of equity.

Sports

Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has been nominated in two different categories as the nominations for LG ICC Awards 2009 were announced at a ceremony of the International Cricket Council in Mumbai on Wednesday. Shakib, the world's number one ranked all-rounder in ODIs is the only Bangladeshi to be included in the 14-man list for Cricketer of the Year award and is also among the 19 players nominated for the Test Player of the Year.

New Zealand's bid to gain momentum after last week's Test series defeat hit a potential roadblock as they were kept to 141 in the first Twenty20 at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. With the openers dismissed early, the pressure was on Ross Taylor, who carried the team almost single-handedly with a busy innings until the 18th over after which, Lasith Malinga returned to stifle the tail. The coloured clothing was out and with it a fresh look to New Zealand's Twenty20 unit, but the pattern of Sri Lanka keeping a check on proceedings spilled over from recent weeks.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has said there is no move to reduce Tests from five days to four days. The idea of reducing the longest format had earlier been floated by ICC President David Morgan to make Tests more attractive to the spectators. Morgan had said the move would also protect and enrich Test cricket in the face of lucrative Twenty20 leagues like the IPL. "Morgan must have been putting a thought on the table," Lorgat said.

Well-known organiser Tabiur Rahman Pahloan was appointed general secretary of the Bangladesh Wrestling Federation's (BWF) new ad-hoc committee as the National Sports Council yesterday dissolved the previous ad-hoc committee.

Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva, the double Olympic champion and world record holder, has been awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize for sport, the jury announced on Wednesday.

Asian automakers gobbled up more than half of US auto sales for the first time in August as a government-funded "Cash for Clunkers" programme spurred demand for their fuel-efficient vehicles, industry data showed Tuesday.

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is going to purchase 1,000 tonnes of sugar from Bangladesh Sugar Refiners' Association at a cost of Tk 39 per kg, said a commerce ministry press statement yesterday.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in the UK is currently consulting and finalising a new mark for companies and products, Good for Development. Early in the research they reviewed a range of existing ethical standards and labels and found that none of them really measure or even attempt to capture the contribution to development being made by business.

Google Inc's Gmail service was knocked offline Tuesday in an outage that the company said affected a "majority" of its millions of e-mail users, including consumers who get Gmail for free and businesses that pay for a version for their employees.

Melting Himalayan glaciers and other climate change impacts pose a direct threat to the water and food security of more than 1.6 billion people in South Asia, according to the preliminary findings of a new study financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) yesterday confined leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) in Madhu's Canteen at Dhaka University for an hour on charges of pasting JCD posters on those of BCL on the canteen walls.

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports yesterday announced fresh action programmes in protest against the police action on its protest procession that left over 30 people injured.

State Minister for Law advocate Qamrul Islam yesterday said the source of grenades used in the attack on an Awami League (AL) rally on August 21 in 2004 would be identified through the high-level committee which is continuing its investigation into the incident.

Former Awami League (AL) lawmaker Joynal Abedin Hazari, who was released from jail on bail yesterday, threatened to take action against the reformists the way 'party chief Sheikh Hasina had treated some senior leaders.'

The High Court (HC) yesterday issued a rule upon the government to explain within four weeks why the law enforcers' action seizing materials from the chamber of former BNP minister Moudud Ahmed should not be declared illegal.

Family members of physician Tamanna Haque Munira of Mitford Hospital, who was allegedly killed by her in-laws on August 29 at her residence at Jatrabari in the city, yesterday brought an allegation against police saying that they had played a mysterious role in connection with Tamanna murder case to save the killers.

Members of Detective Branch (DB) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) seized stolen cloths and ready-made garments worth around Tk 10 lakh and arrested one person from Majhirghat area in the port city yesterday.

National

Road communications between Rajshahi and rest of the country remained suspended for 11 hours from 6:00am yesterday as transport owners and workers enforced strike demanding withdrawal of the state-run BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation) buses from a Rajshahi route.

At least six people were injured in a clash between Chhatra League (BCL) activists and indigenous boys at Travel Adam in the town yesterday. The injured are Bodhi Chama, Kajol Dev, Mizan, Sohel, Sohag and Maruf. Bodhi Chakma is undergoing treatment at Rangamati General Hospital with serious injuries. The brawl followed teasing of indigenous boy Bodhi Chakma by Mizan, an activist of BCL, witnesses said. Bodhi attacked Mizan yesterday as he teased him during a soccer match recently at Rajbai Stadium leading to a severe clash between BCL men and indigenous youngsters of Travel Adam. Later, an emergency meeting was held at the deputy commissioner's office to take steps to restore law and order in the area. An all-party committee was formed to probe the incident.

A mobile court on Tuesday seized banana worth Tk 3 lakh for using toxic chemicals. Led by Additional District Magistrate Imam Uddin Kabir, a team raided five stores at Library Bazar. Official sources said the five stores belonged to Rabiul Islam, Agzal Hossain, Farid Hossain, Azat Biswas and Altaf Hossain. The mobile court found that the traders sprayed harmful chemicals to ripen the fruit. The official brought 3-truck full of seized banana to Pabna Abdul Hamid Road in the evening and destroyed them there.

Barisal Veterinary Institute (BVI) under Patuakhali University of Science and Technology (PSTU) was closed sine die yesterday. The decision followed weeklong movement by students demanding reintroduction of their one-year internship and scrapping of changes in curriculum. The students were forced to leave their hostel within 4:00 pm yesterday afternoon, some students said. A contingent of police was deployed on the BVI campus to prevent any untoward incident.

BNP cadres assaulted a Prothom Alo correspondent of Hakimpur upazila confining him to a hotel room for about an hour. Police rescued him and a general diary (GD) was filed. Sources said, 15 to 20 BNP cadres of the upazila waylaid Zahidul Islam who is also general secretary of Hakimpur Press Club in front of Northern Hotel while he was returning from an ifater party along with other reporters on Tuesday. BNP activists took Zahid to a hotel room of the hotel and assaulted him in presence of other reporters and hurled abusive words for filing a report on August 31 on the groupings in Hakimpur BNP. Hakimpur police station OC Hamidul Alam along with a police contingent and local elite rushed to the spot and rescued him from the hotel room.

A woman was killed by tiger yesterday in Mirganj river near Mirganj village in the Sundarbans. Victim Binodini Bhangi, 30, was wife of Mongal Bhangi of the village in Shyamnagar upazila. Quoting locals police said Binodini and her husband Mongal Bhangi were catching shrimp fry in the Mirganj River. All on a sudden a tiger swooped on her and dragged her into the deep forest at about 2 pm yesterday. Forest guards and locals later recovered the body.

Khagrachhari District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Mokhter Ahmed yesterday rejected bail prayers of 57 BDR jawans and sent them to district jail. Court sources said, the BDR members from 11 Ramgar BDR Battalion were produced in the court at noon seeking bail but the court turned down the prayer and fixed October 19 for next hearing. Lawyers led by Senior Advocate Nasir Uddin Ahmed stood on behalf of the BDR members while Public Prosecutor (PP) Bidan Kanungo conducted the case on behalf of the government.

Saudi Arabia Tuesday said it is not in favour of a trial against former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf which could further deteriorate the volatile political situation in that country, the Online news agency reported.

Japan's new government will have a shaky mandate when it takes office later this month, a poll indicated yesterday, as party leaders acknowledged they must get to work immediately to deal with the country's severe economic problems.

Dipika wanted to be independent, but in the typical middle class sense. She came to Dhaka for higher education. After graduating, she got a job, which established her social identity. Then she got married and within a year she become a mother. Dipika's story of being "independent" is an obvious example of the middle class female existence stereotype in Bangladesh.

Young recitor Mahbub Parvez's first solo album, “Kalottirno Sanglap,” was released recently. The album was released under the banner of Kissa Kahini, and features a repertoire of poems by renowned poets -- from Rabindranath Tagore to Syed Shamsul Huq.

The on-screen rivalry between Bollywood's two super stars--Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan--could spill over to the cricket field if Salman's desire to own a team in the popular Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition is fulfilled.

OP-ED

THE draft Bangladesh Health Policy 2009 draws heavily from the 2000 and 2008 health policy documents. While there are several positive elements, there are certain areas which need clarification and elaboration. Keeping this in mind, I have a number of comments and suggestions, which will make the policy more focused and relevant to the needs of the population, especially the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

JASWANT Singh's Jinnah has certainly provoked much ado about something, but what is that something? Would this biography have made news if the author had not been a senior leader of the BJP? The world of books requires some chintan, but fortunately no chintan baithak. Who or what, then, is the story: Jinnah or the BJP? The two are not entirely unrelated, for the BJP was formed as a direct consequence of the creation of Pakistan. The umbilical cord still sends spasms up its central nerve.

Developers urged to serve societyThe speakers at a view exchange meeting in the port city on Monday urged the property developers to work with an objective to serve the society as well as and the country.